Surviving Reichenbach
by Hannah Palindromes Rock
Summary: A quick overview on Moriarty's feelings before going on the roof to meet Sherlock, his feelings before his "death", and thoughts on his death.


Surviving Reichenbach

Jim was beyond pleased; he was beside himself with excitement. The game was nearly finished and he knew Sherlock would try anything to make sure that it was Moriarty who lost. Jim paced rapidly, the only thing left to do now that Sherlock's empire had crumbled, was to make the king fall. His cell phone dinged in his pocket. Jim stopped pacing, this is what he had been waiting for, expecting, anticipating, _relishing_….

He pulled out his phone and checked the message.

_Come and play. Bart's Hospital Rooftop. SH_

_ PS. Got Something of yours you might want back._

"I'd love to play!" Jim muttered, "Like a cat with a mouse, I play with my food." He laughed with glee. "Got you trapped now!" Then he stopped smiling, "and now you know it don't you Sherlock?" For the first moment he felt a flicker of doubt in his plan, he'd covered every contingency hadn't he?

Later on the rooftop…

Sherlock had seemed so desperate; his friends were doomed unless he doomed himself. He would fall. It had all been so perfect. Then he had "slipped up." Sherlock had laughed at him! He couldn't and wouldn't let him have the last word. BANG! And it was over, he had won. But he still had business…

Looking back in the manner of Sherlock Holmes…

Why would Moriarty have brought a gun on the roof if he knew he had truly won? Sherlock was trapped by his love, he couldn't possibly get out of jumping or John, Lestrade, and Mrs. Hudson would all die. In theory it was fool proof and yet, Sherlock thought of thirteen possible ways that his death would happen, knowing that it would have to at least appear to be a suicide seeing as there was no "Moriarty" or villain to murder him. Therefore, if Moriarty had at least thought of a couple of those ways he would need an escape route himself, so that under the assumption that Sherlock may survive and go after his empire, he would not search for Moriarty. This would give Moriarty time to collect himself without worrying about being caught.

With this in mind, Moriarty must have brought the gun on to the roof with the knowledge that he would probably need to fake his own death in order to avoid suspicion. That being the case, the gun would have fired either a blank or a nonfatal projectile, like in the movies. (ha ha ha). Then by shooting it into his mouth he could cover up the fact that he hadn't actually shot anything. It was also rather obvious that Sherlock would jerk away, not wanting to be so close to such an act. The human mentality would not have allowed him to do anything other than seek to get away from death, especially knowing as we do that he fears death as all humans do. We know this by the fact that he did in fact fake his death in order to avoid actually dying or having John die.

It is also rather apparent that Moriarty was in fact the one on the roof and not an actor or insanely loyal follower. One: Moriarty is a sociopath and could not possibly have the patients to form such a relationship, nor would he let such a relation continue, as it would endanger himself. Two: no paid actor would do suicide just for the money unless he was already dying of a terminal disease, but as Mycroft is always saying "probability". Three: Moriarty is all about the game, he and Sherlock are the main players and Moriarty's ego and obsessed interest in Sherlock would not have allowed him to continue his game without meeting his opponent in person. Curiosity killed the cat.

Because of all this it can therefore be concluded that Jim Moriarty had, at least one, plan to fake his death and escape. The gun in the mouth, besides masking the fact that he wasn't actually firing a projectile, would also have given him ample time to prepare for any other parts of his fake death. He could have concealed a small blood pouch under his shirt by his neck so that when he fell it would be punctured and blood would pool out around his head.

Mainly my point is that unless he meant to stage his own suicide, he wouldn't have brought the gun. Sherlock would have to jump to save his friends and Moriarty couldn't very well threaten him with a gun because it would be the choice of one death to another and if Moriarty shot him it would look less like a suicide. Who would go all the way up onto the roof just to shoot themselves when they could have very well just jumped?

Conclusion: Moriarty is a genius.

Or if you really want to be a stickler, Moriarty did actually kill himself and the whole "did you miss me?" performance was meant just to stop Sherlock from being sent to his death.


End file.
